Power returning to Puerto Rico after massive outage caused by fallen tree

Puerto Rico was hit with a massive power outage, the power authority said Thursday -- nearly seven months after Hurri...

Posted: Apr 13, 2018 7:17 AM

Updated: Apr 13, 2018 7:17 AM

Puerto Rico was hit with a massive power outage, the power authority said Thursday -- nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island's infrastructure and its electrical grid.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, said a tree fell on a major power line, knocking out service to 870,000 customers, about half its clients. The utility tweeted an image it says was of the tree that fell across a power line near the southeast mountain town of Cayey.

In a statement Thursday evening, PREPA executive Justo Gonzalez Torres said a major transmission line was damaged while contractors were clearing vegetation.A worker suffered burns on a hand and foot when the machine he was operating touched the tree that came down on the power line, said Jesus Martinez, director of Emergency Management for Cayey. The worker was in stable condition.

Service had been restored to several municipalities as well as Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Carolina and some major hospitals, the statement said. Full restoration of power could take between seven and 11 hours.

Major blackouts were reported earlier from the northern coastal town of Manat- to Yabucoa, roughly 50 miles southeast.

The blackout also included the capital of San Juan, the most populated area of the island.

"We are devastated at this point," Cynthia Garc-a Coll, an educational psychologist who lives near San Juan, told CNN. "Every time this happens we go into PTSD mode."

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yul-n Cruz said earlier that it could take eight to 16 hours for electricity to return.

Cruz posted images on Twitter of police officers directing traffic on the streets of San Juan.

The mayor, shortly before 5 p.m., reported that power was returning to parts of the capital.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, home to more than 3 million US citizens, in late September.

The Corps of Engineers has said back-to-back 2017 disasters, the remoteness of the island and the fact that some supplies had to be manufactured for installation in Puerto Rico, slowed down work on the electric system.

San Juan resident Domingo Marqu-s said on Thursday that many residents have lost confidence in both PREPA and the island's government.

"At this point, we are so helpless and hopeless," Marqu-s said. "We still have so many people exposed to suffering, displacement and trauma that two hours without power is like a reminder that the problem is nowhere near to be fixed. We have just learned to live with it."